We talked today about how leadership is not a technique you learn but it is about having a sense of what you stand for , believe in and hope for. We completed a private self reflection on what we think our leadership strengths’ and talents are and also what other people have said about us in terms of being a leader. Our key discussion points were:
our ability to lead depends on what we think of ourselves
We are each individually made to be just who we are - Mrs. McRae talked to us about bananas and apples!!
having courage to use our unique and creative ideas
Often believing in ourselves can be difficult-sometimes we tell ourselves we can't do things. If we don't know who we are, what we are capable of, and how we are different from other people, it becomes harder to "believe in ourselves".
The danger of comparing yourself to others
Mystery Bag
As we introduced ourselves as took an object from the mystery bag and linked it to what leadership means for us.
Timmy's Flower
We used a story called " Timmy's Flower " to talk about using our creativity rather than hiding ideas away.
Team Challenge
In the second part of the session we focused on integrity and summed up the idea by using the quote “Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is watching" We talked about integrity is not just related to what you do by rather what you do and say. We read the Emperor's Story and had an excellent discussion about how that story relates to us as leaders and set a goal each to work on this week by using ideas from the story that challenges and interested us. We reflected on being honest, sincere and admitting mistakes.
Session TwoBig Idea-BelongingBig Idea-Self Confidence We started off the session with a game where we represented different cultures. We had a certain taboo action, a way to greet others and an attitude towards another group of people. Today we completed a T chart about how people are judged in terms of outward qualities and inward qualities. From this task we listed the top three ways we believe people judge us as leaders. Here are those reflections collated as a cluster. Click on the wordle to see a larger version. We then completed a PMI about how we accept people into our schools .The collated results are included for you to look at.
We completed a team challenge where restrictions were put on team members. Some members were not allowed to talk, physically help or were unable to see what the group was doing. We had to accept our differences make the most of each others strengths’ to complete the challenge .
We then talked about stress and what that means in terms of being a successful leader. We completed two challenges that put us under a little stress. The “ lost at Sea” challenge and the Labyrinth Game.
Today we started with some balloon games before moving into the fist big idea which was about making decisions. We watched the DVD clip and looked at how decisions can be easily decided to quite high stress and how we can ask for help and this guides us to having a better outcome to reflect on.
We discussed in pairs what decisions we might need to consider as schools leaders. We then combined with another pair before coming up with a decision about the top five decisions.
Some of the ideas were:
How to raise money
What house events’ to plan
How to welcome people into our school
How to support teachers
Whether to take on responsibility
When to talk and not talk!!!
What fun events can we run for our school?
How can we be good role models?
How can we be a leader when some of our friends are not?
How to run a great mufti day?
When to give and who to give awards too.
We each then had 8 votes to cast of which ones were most relevant to us.
Believe it or not the top ranking rank one was when to talk!! This was followed about how to raise money and what House/school events to plan.
We did another decision challenge called Moon Landing.
We then moved onto the creativity challenge and spoke about how as leaders we need to help reflect the school vision and we need to have vision of the future
To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”
“Create your future from your future, not your past.”
You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.""The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious."
Our challenge was to create a bus shelter that reflected our school vision. We will display these in our final session but we made a great start with masses of ideas flowing.
We then watched the DVD clip about service to others. We listened to the book “The Giving Tree” and did a personal reflection. This book has many messages that some of us were able to pick up on quite quickly-this might be a great book to track down in your school library and reread to see again how you can link this back to leadership and we will come back to it again next week.
Today we started off with some parachute games. Some of the games we played were
Para-swap, Para-shuffle, Para-sight, Jaws and Sleep well, teddy.
We then read a story about Togo and the challenge he faced as a lead dog to deliver a serum for diphtheria. From there we split into groups to do a variety of stations either linked to the story or to the big ideas from the last four weeks.
The second station required us to use magnetic words to make a statement about leadership. This involved some creativity and turned out to be a good challenge for a Monday morning!!
The third station involved looking at four quotes linked to the Togo story.
===
=== The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. ~Henry Kissinger For this quote we recorded on a sled dog our leadership strengths that help us to take on challenges.
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo
On a paw print we recoded new ideas for our schools
The best example of leadership is leadership by example. ~Jerry McClain
On a trophy we nominated leaders we think represented excellence and gave our justification for them receiving an award.
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. ~Theodore Hesburgh
On the template of glasses we recorded our vision for our future as leaders
.
The fourth station involved using the Southland Times to cut out words to create a front page headline related to something that happened at our school related to actions taken by the school leaders.
After morning tea we had the Deputy Head Boy and Head Girl from Central Southland College visited. They shared with us what they used to do at primary school as leaders and different things they have done at College that helped them to be in their prefect positions. Some of the themes that came up were decision making, accepting and learning from others, getting involved with opportunities that come your way, believing in your own abilities, being appreciable, time management and giving some of your time to help others.
Our visitors also judged the bus shelter challenge. Each school shared their model and explained how it linked to what made their school special. Well done to the challenge winners Winton Primary.
Following on from that we talked a little about part of being a leader is acknowledging other people who are successful and thanking people who give time to serve others. Each school selected a leader and drafted a letter which will be sent acknowledging the work they do and the difference it has made to their communities. Many teams selected a leader linked to the Christchurch Earthquake resource efforts’.
Last but not least we completed our overall reflection and listened to the book by Dr Seuss “Oh the Places You Will Go”. Well done to the students who completed the Treasure Island map of their leadership journey- I hope you enjoy your treasure.
=Session One=
Big Idea-Leaders who know and like themselves inspire othersBig Idea- Integrity
We talked today about how leadership is not a technique you learn but it is about having a sense of what you stand for , believe in and hope for. We completed a private self reflection on what we think our leadership strengths’ and talents are and also what other people have said about us in terms of being a leader. Our key discussion points were:
- We used a story called " Timmy's Flower " to talk about using our creativity rather than hiding ideas away.
- Team Challenge
In the second part of the session we focused on integrity and summed up the idea by using the quote “Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is watching"
We talked about integrity is not just related to what you do by rather what you do and say.
We read the Emperor's Story and had an excellent discussion about how that story relates to us as leaders and set a goal each to work on this week by using ideas from the story that challenges and interested us.
We reflected on being honest, sincere and admitting mistakes.
Session TwoBig Idea-BelongingBig Idea-Self Confidence
We started off the session with a game where we represented different cultures. We had a certain taboo action, a way to greet others and an attitude towards another group of people.
Today we completed a T chart about how people are judged in terms of outward qualities and inward qualities. From this task we listed the top three ways we believe people judge us as leaders. Here are those reflections collated as a cluster. Click on the wordle to see a larger version.
We completed a team challenge where restrictions were put on team members. Some members were not allowed to talk, physically help or were unable to see what the group was doing. We had to accept our differences make the most of each others strengths’ to complete the challenge .
We then talked about stress and what that means in terms of being a successful leader. We completed two challenges that put us under a little stress. The “ lost at Sea” challenge and the Labyrinth Game.
Session Three
Wow- session three already!!!
Today we started with some balloon games before moving into the fist big idea which was about making decisions. We watched the DVD clip and looked at how decisions can be easily decided to quite high stress and how we can ask for help and this guides us to having a better outcome to reflect on.
We discussed in pairs what decisions we might need to consider as schools leaders. We then combined with another pair before coming up with a decision about the top five decisions.
Some of the ideas were:
We each then had 8 votes to cast of which ones were most relevant to us.
Believe it or not the top ranking rank one was when to talk!! This was followed about how to raise money and what House/school events to plan.
We did another decision challenge called Moon Landing.
We then moved onto the creativity challenge and spoke about how as leaders we need to help reflect the school vision and we need to have vision of the future
To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”
“Create your future from your future, not your past.”
You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." "The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious."
Our challenge was to create a bus shelter that reflected our school vision. We will display these in our final session but we made a great start with masses of ideas flowing.
We then watched the DVD clip about service to others. We listened to the book “The Giving Tree” and did a personal reflection. This book has many messages that some of us were able to pick up on quite quickly-this might be a great book to track down in your school library and reread to see again how you can link this back to leadership and we will come back to it again next week.

The Giving Tree Reflection.doc
- Details
- Download
- 319 KB
Remember next week to bring your treasure maps about your leadership journey.
See you then-Mrs Ineson
The Final Countdown…..Sesion FourToday we started off with some parachute games. Some of the games we played were
Para-swap, Para-shuffle, Para-sight, Jaws and Sleep well, teddy.
We then read a story about Togo and the challenge he faced as a lead dog to deliver a serum for diphtheria. From there we split into groups to do a variety of stations either linked to the story or to the big ideas from the last four weeks.
One station used the book called Zoom; we had to sort a series of pictures in order. You can see the activity in full at the following link: http://wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/Zoom.html
The second station required us to use magnetic words to make a statement about leadership. This involved some creativity and turned out to be a good challenge for a Monday morning!!
The third station involved looking at four quotes linked to the Togo story.
======
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
~Henry Kissinger
For this quote we recorded on a sled dog our leadership strengths that help us to take on challenges.
~Ralph Waldo
~Jerry McClain
~Theodore Hesburgh
The fourth station involved using the Southland Times to cut out words to create a front page headline related to something that happened at our school related to actions taken by the school leaders.
After morning tea we had the Deputy Head Boy and Head Girl from Central Southland College visited. They shared with us what they used to do at primary school as leaders and different things they have done at College that helped them to be in their prefect positions. Some of the themes that came up were decision making, accepting and learning from others, getting involved with opportunities that come your way, believing in your own abilities, being appreciable, time management and giving some of your time to help others.
Following on from that we talked a little about part of being a leader is acknowledging other people who are successful and thanking people who give time to serve others.
Each school selected a leader and drafted a letter which will be sent acknowledging the work they do and the difference it has made to their communities. Many teams selected a leader linked to the Christchurch Earthquake resource efforts’.
Last but not least we completed our overall reflection and listened to the book by Dr Seuss “Oh the Places You Will Go”. Well done to the students who completed the Treasure Island map of their leadership journey- I hope you enjoy your treasure.
EarthQuake Support Idea
http://lilmagoolie.com/2011/03/04/a-thousand-paper-cranes-for-christchurch/
http://origami.org.uk/origamicrane